


Magic of Everyday Moments

by sullacat



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Community: space_wrapped, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-15
Updated: 2011-04-15
Packaged: 2017-10-18 03:25:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/184472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sullacat/pseuds/sullacat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard McCoy understood getting knocked down. But he also knew how to stand back up and brush off the dust.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magic of Everyday Moments

**Author's Note:**

> Advent fic written for the Livejournal 'Space_Wrapped' 2010 fest. Prompt #28. _5 Christmases/holiday where Bones didn't get what he wanted, and one where he got everything he could have ever wished for._

2233

"Do you think I'll get the puppy?"

Momma looked over at Daddy. "I'm not sure, Lenny. That's gotta be hard for Santa to carry around in his sleigh all night, you know?"

"I been a good boy this year," the little boy maintained, his eyes huge as he nestled back against his pillow. All clean and warm, Lenny was tucked in and ready for bed.

Lenny's momma sighed, and kissed his forehead. "We'll see what happens in the morning, okay?" she told him, running a hand over his soft, dark hair.

 

There was not a puppy in his stocking in the morning. There was a whole lot of toys, he had to admit, but nothing that wagged its tail.

Lenny pouted about ten seconds, then sat down and began opening his gifts in earnest. First he unwrapped the box with the little plastic interlocking blocks and started making a building with them. The next package had some clothes from Grandma - nice, but they were clothes. A couple board games, a couple vids. Some socks- _socks?_ \- from Santa.

Then he found the 'Little Tykes Doctor Junior' toy kit, nestled in the back, and started examining it more closely.

They looked like Daddy's things, the ones Lenny wasn't allowed to touch. The scanner made a whirr noise each time he passed it over something, and when he filled the cartridge with water, the child-sized hypospray emitted a fine mist each time he used it on someone.

By the end of the day Lenny had hypoed his mother a dozen times and his daddy's arm was all bandaged up like an Egyptian mummy.

The idea of the dog had long since gone from his head.

 

* * *

 _2242_

 

They traveled in packs. Was impossible to just cull one girl from the herd, Len decided after trying unsuccessfully all afternoon to talk to her alone. Eventually he said 'What the hell,' and headed over toward the group of giggling girls.

Even there, surrounded by the prettiest girls in his class, she stood out. _Perfect._

Then, God Almighty, she opened her mouth and talked to him. "You goin' to the dance, Len?" she asked in that sing-song voice of hers and he felt his body reacting. She was wearing that sweater, the blue one that made her ~~tits~~ eyes pop. Damn, Len liked it when she wore that sweater.

"Yeah, maybe," he said, shrugging casually. Inside his chest his heart was beating out of control. "You gonna be there?" he asked, trying not to look like he cared much.

"Yeah, I think. You gonna bring me a present if I go?" she asked, playing with a piece of her hair and leaning closer to him, her breast grazing his shoulder. Her eyes looked up at him and promised things, things that he only dreamed about at night.

There was something about her, the way she toyed with her hair and his mind. He knew she flirted like that with everyone, flitting from one person to the next like a butterfly in a garden of flowers. But she filled his senses, his dreams at night. She was perfect, and all he wanted this Christmas was to be the one taking her home after the dance. "I'll bring you somethin' pretty."

Even her smile was perfect, even white teeth. She kissed his cheek. "I'll be waitin'."

 

The Christmas dance at the country club was always a big event. Girls went out of their way to find the fanciest dresses and gussied up their hair and did things to their skin and nails that made them all sparkly. Len had put on a tie and his church shoes and picked up a beautiful flower from the flower shop for his beautiful butterfly.

Once he got there, Len walked around and talked to some of the guys, but most of them had dates. A couple people asked him to dance, but he shook his head. Had to be ready when she showed up.

She never showed.

 

Two hours later the DJ announced that this would be the last dance of the night. From the corner he had been sitting Len took a deep breath, snapped the flower in two, and was headed toward the front door of the country club when he felt someone touch his arm.

"Leonard. Will you dance with me?"

Her name was Dina. She was in his astrophysics class, friendly, sweet girl, from what he could recall.

And it was the last dance.

"Yeah," he said with just a hint of reluctance, taking her by the hand and leading her around the floor to a slow song, hoping his two left feet didn't step on her. He almost didn't notice the shy smile on her face, almost blissful as she rested her head against his chest.

By the end of the song, he felt a little better.

"Thanks," she told him as they let go of each other.

"No, thank _you_ ," he said, giving her a tousle to her hair. The look on her face... that told him what he'd suspected, that she harbored a little crush on him. She was nice enough, cute even. More like a bit of honeycomb than a butterfly, amber and golden all over.

"You know," she said, looking up at him, "a few of us are going to The House of Pie for a snack. Wanna come?" she asked shyly, a hopeful look in her eyes.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say 'no', that he just wanted to go home and hit something or feel sorry for himself, maybe sneak a snort from his dad's bottle of Beam, but when Len opened his mouth he heard his own voice saying, "Yeah, that sounds good."

Len had Dad's car and permission to be out until midnight. "I'll drive you," he said, following her to the coat room where he helped her get into jacket, and then one hand on her shoulder, they headed out the door.

He made it home 30 minute past curfew, the night full of friends and laughter and pie and one sweet good-night kiss under her front porch.

Len hadn't forgotten about his butterfly, that still stung - but he sure the hell didn't care as much as he had that afternoon.

 

* * *

 _2254_

Every year Leonard told himself that he was going to close the office on Christmas Eve, but every year he somehow ended up being there tending a broken arm or accident, or as in this case, food poisoning - the entire Roarke family down with bad potato salad.

There was something comforting about feeling needed, about being the one that people turned to when their lives were shaken up.

Made a man feel good, especially when things weren't going so well at home. Pulling up to his brightly lit house, he gave a little smile at the decorations and pulled his jacket closer to his frame as he walked inside, wondering what the weather was like in there.

"Daddy!" Little arms jumped out from around the corner and attached to his legs. Leonard picked her up, tossing her on a shoulder as he made his way to the kitchen, full of good smells.

"Hey," Leonard said to Jocelyn, dropping a kiss on Joanna's head before putting her down and watching her scamper off into the living room. "How are you, hon?" he asked, giving her shoulder a little squeeze. Things had been so tense between them lately, Leonard felt like he was literally walking on eggshells around her.

"Good," she replied as she stirred a pot of steaming sauce. "Long day, felt like spaghetti tonight," she added, picking up a wineglass next to the pot, taking a sip before putting it down and reaching up for a big pot hanging on a rack. "Can you get that for me?"

Leonard's face dropped as he unhooked the pot and handed it to her. His eyes were drawn back to the wine glass. Eyebrows furrowed, full of questions, he looked back at her, as if he didn't understand. _Wine?_

Jocelyn filled the pot with water and set it boiling. "It didn't happen."

 _Oh._ ""Uh, well... damn. I'm sorry, hon." One hand snaked around her shoulder and squeezed again. "You all right?"

She tensed under his arm, then relaxed into him. "I'm fine."

"We can try again next month," he said, reaching into the cooling unit for a beer. "Less things going on, none of the holiday stress."

"I suppose." She took another drink of her wine glass, still not looking at him. "Would it be so bad, if it were just Jo?"

"No, of course not, that's not what I mean. I just..." Fuck, sometimes it seemed like nothing he said was what she wanted to hear. "I thought it might, you know, be good for us. Help us-"

Jocelyn put her spoon down, finally turning to face him. "Leonard, can you even hear yourself? You and me..." she shook her head, her voice dropping, "-you really think a baby would help things?"

At that moment Joanna came roaring back into the kitchen, grabbing his legs again. "JoJo, would you help your daddy set the table?" Joce asked, turning back to the spaghetti.

Leonard reached up and grabbed the plates and utensils, and together the two of them got the table set. "You go wash your hands now, okay?" he told the laughing little girl, chasing her out of the dining room and toward the bathroom.

On his way back to the kitchen, Leonard stopped by the formal living room and stared at the huge tree, done up to Jocelyn's exacting standards. The room looked like something out of a picture, right down to the stockings hung on the mantle, two big ones and a little one for JoJo.

Room enough for another, maybe a couple more.

He pulled a small box out of his pocket, tossed it under the tree. Maybe when she saw the new necklace it would make things better between them.

Next Christmas, maybe Jo would get her little brother or sister.

 

* * *

 _2257_

Leonard sat down at his computer terminal and typed in the appropriate passcodes. Soon the screen filled with text -

2257.357:11:15:24 transmission begins: SFA/McCoy.L to att.na.ga.atl_treadwell2654  
-connecting-  
-connecting-

\- followed a few minutes later by the face of his ex-wife.

"Leonard," she said quietly.

"Hi," he replied, leaning forward. "I just wanted to see how she was doing?"

"She's still pretty feverish," Jocelyn replied, rubbing at the back of her neck. "Doctor Ontaur said rest and fluids would get her back on her feet soon, but that traveling was out of the question, even if her father was a doctor." She peered into the screen, looking at him. "There's really no way you can get here?"

 _Fuck._ Leonard shook his head. "I tried, but no one will swap shifts at this late date. I'm on-call tomorrow night and the day after. Soonest I could get away was the 27th." Even then it would just be a weekend in Georgia, not the long holiday he'd had planned for his little girl in San Francisco with him.

"She'll like that," Jocelyn answered wryly, "even if its a few days late. Seeing you will be a treat."

"I know," he mumbled, his face flat. "It's just - I really wanted to see her this Christmas." It was going to be their first holiday together since the split, when he'd be the one to see her face on Christmas morning when she woke up. The stack of presents from Santa with her name was piled high up by his bed, and instead of seeing her open them on Christmas morning, now she'd get them a couple days later.

"Look, this wasn't what I had wanted either," Joce answered, looking a little frustrated. "We had to cancel our trip, probably not going to get any of our money back."

Leonard didn't give a shit about Clay Treadwell losing his vacation money. He did care about his daughter's health and happiness. "I just... wanted to see her Christmas morning. I miss that." Maybe he sounded like a brat, but fuck it, JoJo was his little girl and her childhood was slipping away in front of his eyes.

"I just don't think this year is going to happen." Jocelyn's face seemed to understand, but... "Len, you'll be in San Francisco one more year, right. If you can work it out, she's yours for the holiday next year, I promise. Hell, if you can't make it here, I'll take her there to see you myself."

Leonard was about to respond when he saw a little face peek in the doorway behind Jocelyn. "Hey there, bugaboo," he said gently as the six year old toddled toward the screen. She looked tired, her hair all messy from sleep, with those sad little eyes that kids got when they didn't feel good.

"Hi Daddy," she told him, climbing up on Jocelyn's lap. "Santa's coming tomorrow."

"I know, baby girl." He looked up at Jocelyn, trying to hide the frustration and resignation all over his face, instead putting on a big smile for his daughter. "And I'll be there a couple days after that, I promise." She smiled at that, resting her flushed head on Joce's shoulder.

Try again next year, seemed to be the story of his life.

* * *

 _2260_

"Bones, you still here?"

"In the bathroom," he called, stepping out with a comb in his hand. "Waited for you."

"Spock's gonna get pissy if we're late," Jim said, quickly rummaging through a drawer, chuckling as he found what he was looking for, and pulled out a camera. "Told him I'd take pictures this year."

Bones grinned at Jim. "Let's go." They began walking down the hall toward the rec room appropriated for this year's holiday concert. What had started two years ago as Spock playing his lyre for a few members of the young crew on Christmas Eve had turned into an annual event.

Rumor had it that Nyota was singing some carols this year, and both Jim and Bones had been expressly invited to attend.

Neither man wanted to be late, so they walked with quick steps. "How is Joanna doing?" Jim asked as they made it into the turbo lift. But Bones was quiet, said something too low to be heard. "Didn't hear you - what did you say?" Jim asked again, turning to face him.

The door opened. "I said I didn't get to talk to her," Bones answered as he stepped out of the lift and headed down the corridor.

"You didn't- Bones, wait - _wait_ , stop. What happened?" Jim asked, confused. He stood there in the hall, one hand on top of Bones' arm to keep him from moving. "Why didn't you get to talk to her?" The two previous years they'd been on board, they'd managed to arrange a video conference between Bones and his daughter on Christmas day.

Jim knew better than anyone how important those few minutes were for Bones, that he'd been looking forward to it all month, watching her open her present in front of him.

But Bones just shook his head. "Burn injury from Engineering. Just got caught up with a patient. I tried to make the call when I was done, but...

Jim's face fell. "The subspace array. Shit, yeah, we think the relay beacon got hit by some debris." Jim's eyes gazed down, then back up with a determined look on his face. " _The Hood_ already sent a shuttle with a couple engineers to look into it." He headed toward a computer panel. "Lemme find Scotty, see if we can't get over there faster, might be able to fix it sooner than they can."

"Jim, its okay. Don't worry about it."

"No, its not alright. It's Christmas and you need to talk to her." Jim looked near despondent. "I'm sorry. Dammit, I should've made sure-"

"Not your doing, Jim, and certainly not your responsibility." Bones could see just how upset Jim was about this, and it made his heart ache, that Jim cared about him that much. "Please don't disturb Scotty, he's probably in there already, enjoying himself."

Bones wanted to take Jim in his arms right now, for comfort, for support - hell, just to say 'I love you' but they were standing in a busy corridor and despite their relationship being public knowledge, it still wasn't right to be all over each other where the crew could see them.

The corridor was now filling with the sound of music coming from the far end. "I'll talk to her as soon as its fixed, she'll understand." At least, he hoped she would. His baby wasn't a baby anymore, nine years old. Growing up so fast, and sometimes Bones worried that he'd become nothing but a stranger to her.

Jim didn't seem to care about the others in the hall. He reached down and took Bones' hand. "I will make this up to you."

"Already have, Jim," Bones told him, meaning it. "Now come on, let's go listen to Spock before he sends someone to fetch you."

 

* * *

 _2262_

Christmas wasn't the same on board a starship. Wasn't like they had family to go see, time to travel or go shopping. Jim had made sure that alpha shift had a special buffet lunch in the galley, and a holiday party that evening for anyone who felt like celebrating.

Not that Bones partook of that lunch. Having filled himself up that morning on the iced sugar cookies that some kind soul left in the break area, McCoy sent everyone else to the gala lunch, offering to hold down the fort himself for an hour while they all enjoyed themselves. It was quiet, not a single patient interrupted him from reading his book, a biography that Jim lent him after he devoured it first, like the bookworm he was.

By the time the rest of the staff got back from lunch with a slice of pie for him, he found himself lost in the deftly written passages about Trafalgar and wondering if Jim would like to visit there one of these days.

Sickbay didn't stay empty, but that was okay. Bones liked feeling useful, though it often came at someone else's expense. But cuts and scrapes and broken bones were quickly mended, and at the end of the shift he left Sickbay with a skeleton crew so that as many people as possible could enjoy the holiday party and concert that evening, giving them instructions to page him directly if they needed any help.

Bones hoped that they didn't call him, but five years on board now had inured him to the fact that he and Jim were Starfleet officers first, their duty to their ship often coming before their own wants and comforts. Jim often remarked that only someone else with that level of responsibility would understand why he had to leave suddenly in the middle of the night to take care of bridge business without getting resentful.

The flip side was that too often when Jim was called to the bridge for an emergency, Bones headed to Sickbay to prepare for the injuries. But he was proud of Jim, how far he'd come in this first mission. The whole ship had done themselves proud.

 

At 1600 the video screen chirped and Bones ran to it, settling into his chair in front of the computer terminal. He spent the next twenty minutes video conferencing with Joanna, though she did most of the talking. Her dog, her friends, her school, her new shoes, her math homework - she had an opinion on everything and when she arched her eyebrow at him as she described the project she had been assigned in stellar geography - _'Over the break, Daddy. She gave us homework **over the break** ,'_ \- it was all he could do to keep from climbing through the screen and hugging her tight.

Jim arrived in their room in time to say 'Merry Christmas' to Joanna and see her open their gifts to her. By the time they all got off the call, Bones' face hurt from smiling so hard. His daughter was safe and cared for, growing up happy and healthy and beautiful and even if McCoy didn't get to see her enough, she loved him.

A quick nap and a snuggle and some fooling around later, and it was time to get up and ready for the holiday concert. Spock's musical tradition had grown to the size of a small orchestra, complete with a few singers. They performed a medley of songs from a few different planets and cultures, ending with a trio of familiar Terran Christmas carols.

 _This is what Christmas was all about_ , he thought as he listened to the music, taking it inside - all of a sudden the words to the songs made sense. Peace. Love. Good will. Blessings and joy - Bones had it all, many times over, and not just today. Every day.

Bones could hear Jim humming next to him and despite all the people around them, he covered Jim's hand with his own, lacing their fingers as they rested on his leg. Four weeks from now, they'd be docking the ship at Earth Spacedock for a cleaning and retrofit, ending their first highly successful five-year mission and spending some time back on Earth visiting friends and family.

When they returned to the ship two months after, there would be silver bands on their ring fingers.

It didn't need to be Christmas for him to get what he wanted. Every day was the best day of Leonard McCoy's life.


End file.
